Psychology Today | 18.10.2026 19:34
The theater is full of family—not all my family, though my cousins and their kids flank me on either side, but families. Plural. There are intergenerational groupings of Filipinos filling up row after row of the 8:35 p.m. showing of DreamWorks' Forgotten Island. The lights dim and all the aunties in the theater quiet down. All the children momentarily stop crinkling their candy wrappers. There is a pause after the globe turns and the Universal Studios and DreamWorks logos appear, and we are plunged into darkness. Then there is a sound, a spotlight, and the screen fills with the image of the Philippine Sun. There is an audible collective gasp from the audience. And then silence, just for a beat. And then, there is applause. There are tears. As the story unfolds, there is laughter.
